trash you up

adventures in petting a dophin a.k.a. meeting someone famous

2012-01-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

the other day i was reading a blog about someone's brush with a famous musician. that got me thinking about some of the famous (and "famous") people i've met. several years ago my cousin beth and i coined a term for meeting someone famous.

backstory: when we were younger, my family went on a trip to sea world and my cousin beth came with me. near the exit, there was an exhibit where you could stop and put your hand in the tank to pet a dolphin. my parents were ready to leave, but my younger brother chris insisted he needed to pet a dolphin before we could go. he waited patiently for one to swim near his hand, and my parents waited impatiently to go home. when they finally told him he had to leave, chris started crying.

"but i want to pet a dolphin! it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" something about a red-faced 9-year-old sobbing over the missed opportunity to pet a dolphin struck us as deliciously hilarious. thus, when we wanted to talk in code about a run-in with a celebrity, we called it "petting a dolphin" because it was our version of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

anyway.

here are some of my favorite instances of petting a dolphin. some are actually impressive to me, while others stand out because of ridiculous situations i got myself into just to have this memento. i've never been one to meet celebrities and ask for autographs...i like to have the memories to look back on. what am i gonna do with a piece of paper? give me a photo any day.

*disclaimer: i apologize for the fact that i'm awkwardly unphotogenic and that this is more photos of me in one place than you ever wanted to see in your lifetime*

have you petted any dolphins lately??

lemmy (motorhead)
[my ultimate dolphin!!!]

? (? and the mysterians)

corey feldman

andre "mr. rhythm" williams

dj fontana (elvis' drummer and "the first drummer of rock'n'roll")

nobunny
[it's kinda weird when your friends become superstars, but i guess he's pretty "famous" these days!]

kerri kenny-silver (the state/reno 911)
[the state is my favorite show in the WORLD!]

jeff magnum (the dead boys)

the sweet inspirations (elvis' backup singers)

paul revere (paul revere and the raiders)

michael ian black (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)

michael showalter (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)

pauly shore

wanda jackson "the queen of rockabilly"

jesco white "the dancing outlaw"

david wain (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)

handsome dick manitoba (the dictators)

roy loney and cyril jordon (flamin groovies)

paul-z (zero boys)

the great gaylord

guitar wolf

peter tork (the monkees)
[my favorite monkee!]

rivers cuomo (weezer)

peter noone (herman's hermits)

tre cool (green day)

flo and eddie (the turtles)

melvin davis "the detroit soul ambassador"

gob
[i could fill a whole scrapbook of photos with these guys -- this isn't even all of them]

i would be happy to tell stories about any of these photos :)

tell me about dolphins you've petted! better yet, do a post like this and link it in the comments!

why do mustaches make everything funnier?

2012-01-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

the dapper squirrel from my last post reminds me that i never posted about what happened on christmas.

i have an aunt, uncle and cousins who live in wyoming. when we did a gift exchange with them this year, my aunt also sent along a package of mustaches and asked us to take a family photo to send to them. my family gathered in the basement to take our pictures, which was hilarious enough on its own, but then things started snowballing out of control. the next thing i knew, my cousin wanted to show off how she could match a mustache to her sweater. my faux-niece, who is usually scared of facial hair, allowed us to put one on her and sat there looking quite distinguished. i was so busy laughing at her that i didn't notice my brothers has started to stick the mustaches around the room on the various taxidermy. suddenly it was, "erin, look!" "erin, LOOK AT THIS!" and i was laughing so hard i was crying.

(this one KILLS ME every time i look at josh...he's slightly cross-eyed AND his mustache is so crooked its falling off and he didn't even bother to fix it...ha!!! not to mention the fact that my dad is wearing a mustache on top of his mustache, lol)

happy squirrel appreciation day

2012-01-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

its ironic that today is squirrel appreciation day when josh and i just brought this handsome gentleman home to the ryan arms yesterday.

"what's that you say, sonny? i'm a little hard of hearing."

weekend

2012-01-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

i had a nice relaxed weekend, although it was over much too soon. on friday josh and i spent a little free time junkin. i didn't find much except for some old tiger beat and 16 magazines with the monkees in them, but we still had fun looking around.

i met this cute little guy in one of the antique shops. i love when places have shop cats! i wish we had one at the toy store.

this life-size statue (probably out of a church) was pretty cool to see sitting among a bunch of junk in a shop.

we really wanted this taxidermy bobcat but he was a bit out of our price range!

jocko was just chillin in one of the rooms of an antique store. i sorta liked him but sorta wanted to get away from him. fast.

we ate lunch at this little mexican restaurant because it looked ridiculous. it wasn't too good.

in the evening i went with josh to get a tattoo. he got a wolfman portrait from the same guy who did my little richard one. here is a better photo of my tattoo now that its all healed.

i finally managed to get a photo of our new house with snow!

saturday i worked all day, and today was a lazy day filled with coffee, slippers, and chores around the house. hope you had a nice weekend as well!

hot trash!

2012-01-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

in case you didn't know, i do a weekly radio show on a college station here in cleveland. every tuesday nite, i get run of the airwaves for two hours and i get to play whatever i feel like hearing. mostly i play a lot of rock'n'roll in its various forms: punk, rockabilly, garage, etc. i also like a lot of vintage soul and r&b, and sometimes i'll even throw a little surf or blues on.

everyone who works up at the station does their show on a volunteer basis, which is fine in most cases because its obvious we're some of the biggest music nerds in the city. i have been doing my show (called hot trash) for the past 7 years. feel free to tune in some tuesday nite or follow me on facebook! our station can be streamed live online by going to www.wcsb.org/listen no matter where in the world you live, or you can tune in locally in cleveland by going to 89.3fm.

my facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/hottrash.

here is some fan art made by some of my awesome listeners!

by josh!

by johnny m!

by josh!

by johnny rattail!

by lucky!

ooooooh my soul

2012-01-10T18:49:00.001-08:00

check out my newest tattoo!

as seen on his album cover, here:

i feel 100% sassier already.

thanks to trevor moment at atom bomb tattoos.

happy birthday elvis!

2012-01-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

happy birthday, e! elvis would have been 77 years old today.

i can't wait til josh and i go on our honeymoon in a few months cuz we're going to memphis and i can't WAIT go back to graceland! it will be my third visit :)

from ida and elmer's to the ryan arms

2012-01-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

how could i forget this?!? i totally never came back to post "NOW" photos of our new house now that we're all moved in. whenever possible, i will try to post a photo with the same angle so its obvious how different it is now that we've unpacked all our stuff. there will also be a few extras of some of my favorite junk thrown in for good measure. we are by no means done making all the little changes we want to make, but there weren't many major things we felt needed to be done right away -- that's why we fell in love with this charming old house in the first place! mostly its just things that still need to be framed and hung on the wall, and that sort of stuff. we've been working really hard since moving in at the end of august, and i hope it shows! welcome to the wacky shack, a.k.a. the ryan arms!

the kitchen

THEN:

NOW:

the dining room

THEN:

NOW:

(vintage family photo wall!)

the living room

THEN:

NOW:

the computer room

THEN:

NOW:

the record room

THEN:

NOW:

the bathroom

THEN:

NOW:

the bedroom

THEN:

NOW:

basement laundry room

THEN:

NOW:

basement "boat room"

THEN:

NOW:

PHEW!

here's a couple extra things i didn't originally take photos of cuz there was nuthin to see...but now there is!!

front door:

foyer in front of house:

upstairs hallway (a.k.a. the hall of eyes):

hallway to basement:

hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of our new house, i know we're certainly lovin it!! :)

good morning

2012-01-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

as you can see, the new year = new blog design. out with the drab grays and blacks, in with the POLKA DOTS! polka dots do make me happy.

here is one more thing that makes me happy.

have a great day! i'm off to work at the toy store :)

We are gonna go to: BIG FUN from Chris Karel on Vimeo.

(this is where i work - seriously!)

favorite christmas present

2012-01-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

for christmas this year, josh's mom got me a really nice new camera! when i opened it josh said, "wow, she must REALLY like you!" hahaha. it's so nice i've been afraid to take it out of the house to try it out! here are the first few photos i've taken while messing around with it.

2012

2012-01-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

in 2012 i will:

1. document life better by taking more photos
2. marry my best friend (!!!)
3. spend more time with family and friends instead of being so antisocial
4. enjoy life more instead of working it all away and feeling like i missed out on everything
5. live healthier
6. work at making hobbies more lucrative (because shouldn't we all be able to do the things we love and are good at for a living??)

happy new year, y'all!

djs helping djs: a benefit for jonathan toubin

2011-12-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

photo: eleanor logan

a few weeks ago, i made a post about dj'ing with friend and fellow dj jonathan toubin of new york night train/soul clap and dance off fame. he was just here in cleveland a few weeks ago and i dj'ed the opening set for him, as well as chose the songs for the dance-off portion of his set. unless you have seen him in action, its hard to describe just how amazing his live act is. not only does he have a great record collection, but he knows his stuff and he knows how to get people to move. he is so passionate about the music you can see it plain as day that he is the person in the room having the most fun out of anyone. and unless you have actually met him in person, its hard to understand just how warm and genuine of a person he is to everyone. he's one of those people that you run into and you're honestly HAPPIER after having done so. all of this is what makes it so hard to accept that he is in the state he is currently in.

about a week after appearing in cleveland, jonathan was touring in portland to dj a show. while asleep in his first floor hotel room, a taxi cab drove through the wall of his room and landed on top of him in bed. my friend was literally run over while sleeping. he was in very serious condition, and remains that way almost a month later. i can't tell you how sad this makes so many people. the outpouring of support has been overwhelming, in a good way. people have arranged benefits all around the country, donating proceeds to jonathan's recovery fund. some people have had "card-making nights" at bars where everyone got together and made things they could send to him once he is well enough to receive them. i saw that two of his friends even composed a special song just for him, available for a $1 purchase here, with all proceeds going to jonathan. there was an article published where friends (including well-known musicians like jon spencer and gibby haynes from the butthole surfers) talked about why jonathan is special to them. hell, even john waters sent a "get well soon" photo. this dude is the real thing. everyone is pulling for him. he is an amazing person, hands down.

photo: patrick griffin

if you're anywhere near the cleveland area this sunday, january 1st, we're having a benefit show at the beachland tavern. there will be a bunch of cool local djs, some raffles, neat prizes, party jams and more. i'll be doing a set and sending it out to jonathan in the hopes that the power of rock'n'roll sends healing vibes and he is on the mend in no time. the truth of the matter is, his injuries were very serious and no one really knows whats going to happen.

here is a facebook invite for the cleveland benefit: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/events/215665931846240/

here is a short documentary about jonathan by pablo mediavilla costa:

photo: unknown

engagement photos

2011-12-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

it wasn't easy getting josh to go on a photo shoot, but i guess its a good thing he loves me so much :)
we decided that we really wanted to have our engagement photos taken at a carnival. i love the lights, the signs, the colors! going to the fair is something that we look forward to every summer and i just knew this was where i wanted to have our photos taken. my brother mike was the photographer, and i think he did an awesome job of capturing us as our silly selves as well as editing the photos to look just how i imagined.

we tried doing the shoot on two occasions and it rained both days. finally, we were down to one of the last fairs of the summer and guess what? more rain! we decided to grab some umbrellas and just make the best of it. we managed to get in quite a few shots in between the sporadic showers. there are some shots where we needed our umbrellas, but those ones ended up being some of my favorites from the whole shoot! it was very risky for my brother to be handling his expensive equipment in the rain, but he didn't throw in the towel and i think his hard work really shows.

here are just a few of my favorites from the shoot. 6 months from now, josh and i will be getting married!! i can hardly believe it :)

if you would like to follow along with any of the wedding planning, you can check my other blog butnotasmuchastomorrow.blogspot.com/

first christmas in our new home

2011-12-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

i absolutely loved putting up my vintage christmas decorations in our cute little house :)
every day it gets harder and harder to leave because i just want to sit on the couch, sipping coffee and hugging cats while i look at the pretty tree ; )

soul clap and dance off

2011-11-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

the other nite, the fabulous soul clap and dance off came to cleveland for a nite of ass shakin and hot soul jams. my friend jonathan toubin is a dj from new york city who throws some of the best dance parties i've ever seen! during his soul clap and dance offs, he brings out his big ol' box of soul 45s (this is a dance party for ONLY records! and ONLY 45 records at that!!) and attempts to make the room explode. he has one hell of a collection! last time he blew my mind by playing the chanteur's "grizzly bear" and this time i about died to hear this one, a record i've been coveting for my own collection for quite some time now!

last time the soul clap came to town, i opened the show with a short dj set and then i sat in on the local "celebrity" pannel to help choose the dance contest winner. i prefer to be behind the turntables rather than on the microphone, so this time i did another opening dj set and i left the judging up to some other qualified folks! i also helped during the dance contest by choosing the 5 songs the contestants had to dance to. here were my picks!

the buena vistas "soul clappin"

alvin cash the the crawlers "twine time"

gene the hat "pass the bug parts 1&2"

james and bobby purify "shake a tail feather"

the great gaylord "squat with me baby"

here i am with my friend eric, who was on the pannel of celebrity judges. he is the singer in a band called the new bomb turks.

here's eric and the master of ceremonies, dj jonathan toubin!

soul clap is frequently out on the road, so if the dance party stops in your city you better go shake a tail feather!

norton records 25th anniversary all-star spectacular

2011-11-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

for 25 years, ultimate rock'n'roll couple billy miller and miriam linna have been putting out records and reissuing some of the greatest hidden gems underground music has to offer. from hasil adkins to esquerita, these cats really know their stuff; how can you not trust a lady who started her early musical career as a drummer for the m'fing CRAMPS?!

to celebrate their momentous 25th anniversary, they are putting on a 4-day blowout that features legendary soul performers, overseas rock acts and the best local sleaze the good ol' us of a has to offer. amazingly, josh and i will be there to witness it all go down in history!

here are just some of the bands we'll be seeing in new york over the weekend. GREAT GOOGA MOOGA!

halloween weekend 2011

2011-10-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

what a fun weekend!

on saturday josh and i channeled our inner el and 'cilla to go to the annual wcsb masquerade ball. i didn't think my costume turned out half bad for being so stumped about what to wear.

i used this photo as inspiration:

and here we are!

it sucks that we had to go as two different era versions of ourselves (60s pricilla and 70s elvis) but i still think people got the idea :)

there were lots of great costumes at the masquerade ball...the costume contest winner was "sexy alf" HAHA

here i am with my cousin "velma" - ha!

the bands at the ball were great, too!

the alarm clocks (60s garage legends!)

midnight (black metal rock'n'roll)

midnight - i like to call this piece "black metal and candy corn" teehee

the angry samoans played also, but i didn't get any photos because i was in danger of getting my wig ripped off! crazy times :)

tonite josh and i hung out with my cousins, my faux-niece and my mom. we had a pizza party, handed out candy, and took my faux-niece trick-or-treating for the first time. it was cute!

hope your weekend was just as swell!

ida and elmer's house

2011-10-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

i had wanted to wait to post photos of the new house until i had before and after shots of each room, showing them empty and then with our things moved in. but because i'm being so picky about things being just right before i show them, i don't want to wait any longer to post a few of how cute the house itself is.

after doing a little research and talking to some neighbors/relatives, we learned that ida was the original owner of this house that was built in 1938. she had two husbands, both named elmer, and no kids. the first elmer died shortly after moving in, and the second died in the sixties. ida was living here alone until last december, when she passed away 3 months shy of her 100th birthday. i can't imagine all the things she must have experienced during her lifetime! josh and i can tell that the house was very special to ida and her elmers; its apparent in how well taken care of it was and the great condition its in 70+ years after being built. we're really excited to start this new chapter of our lives together here, taking pride in the house that ida and her elmers loved so much and carrying on the tradition.

our first house

the view of our front yard and street from the front steps :)

very pink garage :)

back porch

little walk way from back porch to driveway - cute!

pink kitchen!

vintage light fixture above sink - cute!

phone nook - cute!!!

dining room

dining room

living room - one side

living room - other side. the room is looooong!

computer room

retro bathroom!

built in vintage medicine cabinet - cute!

razor slot in vanity above bathroom sink - cute!!!

record room

cedar closet, for all my fancy fur coats (as if)

bedroom (which is HUGE)

storage room aka "bonus room" aka "the roost"

basement room #1 (nicknamed the boat room)

basement room #2, laundry side

basement room #2, josh's area side

basement room #3

awesome light fixtures in the boat room!

canning room in the basement - cute!

skeleton keys for all the interior doors of the house :)

bottom of the stack

2011-09-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

josh and i have been busy busy busy getting the new house in order. its looking really good (actually, amazing, if i do say so myself!) and i'm excited to share some photos soon.

in the meantime, here is a recent flea market score that is one of my most favorite of all time. it was in a stack of old war/military photos and they all appeared to be taken in an asian country. some were in restaurants with asian decor, others were of soldiers and people in fancy clothes. the guy was trying to sell the whole lot for $20. he pointed to a portrait of a distinguished-looking soldier and told me, "this is the one that everybody wants."

"oh, really? cuz i wanted this one," i said, showing him the photo at the bottom of the stack.

"yeah? the geisha? ok....5 bucks."

the money was out of my hand and into his before he could take the photo out of the plastic photo album page. i couldn't believe my luck. usually i spent way too much time at flea markets digging through stacks of old pictures just hoping there's a treasure waiting for me. by then, all the good stuff around me is already snagged up by everyone else and i come out empty-handed all around. i told myself that this time, i would not waste my whole day looking through every single stack of photos i passed. somehow, these caught my eye.

isn't she beautiful?????

swoooooooooon. what a great find.

homeowners, y'all

2011-08-24T22:03:00.001-07:00

WE GOT THE KEYS!!!!!

a million more photos to come. stay tuned.

ooooooh my soul

2011-08-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

so how ironic is this?? the beans have finally been spilled, and i've been too busy to even TALK like i've been dying to for what seems like FOREVER now. well, luckily i have a second.

all this stress and missing in action from blogland is largely due to the fact that josh and i are about to own this:

HOLY CRAP, BATMAN!

this is huge for us. we weren't exactly planning to buy a house right now, and in fact if we had any sense at all we would have saved up a lot longer and not blown our entire wedding fund on a down payment. but hey, life is strange and you only live once and things happen for a reason and all that other good stuff.

it isn't likely that you'll be lucky enough to get off with just a simple update like this, because this is a mega-exciting thing for me and i'm probably going to blab about it every step of the way. i don't have any more photos to share at this point because we haven't gotten the keys yet and i've still only been there once. but i CAN share some cool details:

-the house was built in the 30s and most of it is "in its original condition." what this means is that the interior features things like art deco woodwork around the bathroom door frame, and incredibly tacky wallpaper in every room (especially what is going to become the record room, which features people riding on horseback). this also means that we got a good deal on the house for being outdated, but josh and i TOTALLY DIG IT. the few updates that were made were done in the fifties, and are very obviously "fab fifties" style (a pink/black bathroom, a pink kitchen, a pink garage door; again, TOTALLY AWESOME). for being original, the house is in amazing condition.

-the most exciting thing for josh and i was the fact that all the interior doors still have their skeleton key sticking out of them! the sellers also left a key ring with a spare set of skeleton keys on the counter for us. I. LOVE. SKELETON. KEYS. the original blueprints to the house were also laid out on the counter. i love knowing the history of things and the fact that we will have that is pretty neat.

-the size of the house we rent now is maybe 500 sq. feet. our new house is close to 1600 sq. feet, and that's not even counting the partially finished basement (which is also huge). i can't effing wait to fill it full of cool junk. you know i have a knack for this. yay.

i like the fact that it looks sorta creepy and haunted from the outside. i'm guessing we're probably going to seem like the munsters to the neighbors anyway, so it works. i can't wait to see the look on their faces when we start carrying in boxes marked "stuffed monsters" and unpack a giant fiberglass cheeseburger from the truck. if our tattoos and funny haircuts don't scare them away first, i'm sure mayor mccheese will do the trick.

my friend bryan told me our new house reminds him of the wacky shack, an amusement park funhouse that used to be inside idora park near youngstown, ohio. apparently there are still a few wacky shacks remaining in parks around the states.

i do see the resemblance. is hotel hot trash being retired for the wacky shack?? only time will tell.

if all goes well, we should be able to start moving in sometime next week. i'll be sure to post more regular updates now that i don't have to keep secrets and be all stressed out about life.

i can't wait for our own place!!!

2011-08-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

it's pretty much killing me that all my thoughts these days revolve around one central theme, and its one that i've been forbidden to talk about just yet. I WANT TO TALK, DAMMIT. until then, lest i accidentally slip and ruin everything, i will refrain from talking and just make my presence in blogland known by another photo dump. BUH! not fair.

just another late nite college radio show with my special guest, josh domino

lemmy was the first cat to find this exciting new hiding place. can anyone complete my collection and provide me with the giraffe coat rack?!

i got some new glasses...and some new freckles (thanks, mr. sun!)

i always put the twins down for their nap at the same time

recently an old-fashioned soda fountain opened in cleveland and josh and i finally had a chance to stop by. it was cute and delicious.

one day i took the cats over to my mom's house and when it was time to leave we couldn't find megadeth anywhere. imagine my surprise when i walked to the top of the stairs and found her hiding in my mom's flower pot. silly cat.

i've really enjoyed spending the summer as nanny for my faux-niece. she's at such a cute age and i love to see all the new things she is learning...she's so smart! here she is having fun in her pool.

"just let me go outside and play, ma..."

my pal nobunny played here a few weeks ago and cleveland got a bit too, uh, excited. the crowd ended up tearing off all his clothes and he left the stage, only to return and finish the rest of the show totally naked. if you think this photo is awkward, imagine the unedited ones...

monkees recap/photo dump

2011-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

i know i've been MIA lately but there have been some things going on that have definitely been preoccupying me. i hope that it all comes to a close soon so that i can talk freely about the situation and CALM THE FUCK DOWN in the meantime :) yes, i'm rather stressed at the moment.

but i just realized i never posted any of the photos from the monkees show i went to last month (which was super fun, by the way). my camera with the good zoom broke, so i wasn't able to get any decent pictures of the guys. i did get lots of fun pictures of the screen behind them that played clips the entire show, which is fine because i couldn't take my eyes off it the whole time anyway.

(even though we got there early the line STILL wrapped around the block)

(i accidentally took a photo of micky's underwater crotch..oops)

(never thought i would hear "daddy's song" from the movie "head" live..ha! davy even changed into an outfit that looked just like the one he wore in the movie during that scene)

(the entire nite we tried thinking of something i could get as a monkees tattoo...we decided this should be my back piece since davy is my least favorite and that would be the dumbest thing ever)

fan girl

2011-06-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

i had a total fan girl moment today and it was sort of embarrassing, but ultimately awesome.

i was standing behind the counter at work and a lady came up and started asking my coworker about getting some tshirts made (we have a heat press and can make shirts with transfers while they shop). while she stood there i thought to myself, "you know, that looks like.....naaaaw, why would SHE be here?" but as soon as i heard her voice, i knew it WAS her.

"is your name kerri?"

this is the point where my mouth just overtook all my common sense and i started getting all silly. i wasn't even thinking about how i totally just interrupted their conversation. as she answered yes, all i could think was THIS IS KERRI KENNY-SILVER from my favorite show in the whole wide world standing in my store!!!

you may know her as kerri, the only female member of the 90s comedy sketch show "the state" (<3<3<3!!!!!) or as trudy wiegel from the show "reno 911." i told her that "the state" was my favorite show of all time, and that i had actually seen her play a show with her old band "cake like" several years ago at the club that was just down the street from where we were. she was super nice and kept calling me names like "sweetie." she was in town shooting a movie and i had absolutely no idea. as if it wasn't enough to blow my mind that she was randomly standing in front of me, she went on to tell me and my co-worker that the reason she was picking out the tshirts she wanted was because her dad was the voice of the characters: sonny the coco puffs bird, count chocula, and lion-o from thunder cats!!! WOW! mind. officially. blown.

i tried to quietly tell another co-worker who she was and why i was so excited, and he thought it would be funny to embarrass me by yelling out in the store, "OK, WHICH ONE OF YOU IS FROM THE STATE! THIS GIRL IS A HUGE FAN AND SHE'S TOO EMBARASSED TO ADMIT IT!" kerri just laughed because she knew damn well i admitted it, over and over and over. then she sweetly asked, "do you have a camera on you?" and we went over to the joke and gag section (which makes perfect sense when you're taking a picture with a comedian, duh) to take a photo together.

THAT MADE MY DAY!

and so did knowing that in exactly one year, i will be the wife of the cutest boy in the whole world :D

"when the monkees come to town, then we'll go see the monkees!" -tape recording of 5-year-old erin

2011-06-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

the monkees were the first band i ever loved. their 20th anniversary in the eighties coincided perfectly with my formative years as a child, and several tv stations were showing reruns of the show. watching it as an adult is a totally different experience because you catch things that obviously weren't intended to be picked up on as a younger audience. its easy to be 5 or 50 and still be amused at the show.

i "borrowed" my mom's old vinyl records and quickly acquired a crush on not one member, not two, but the entire band (what can i say? i've always been boy crazy and i've always obviously had good taste in men). peter ("i'm the dummy, micky. i'm always the dummy") has been my favorite for as long as i can remember.

my cousins beth and amy grew up with the same exposure to the band and the same love for them instilled at an early age. thank goodness for our moms and their record collections! as we grew up we forgot about our love for the monkees for a few years but it was reignited again around the age of 12 and today its stronger than ever. amy already has a monkees tattoo and i'm trying to find something i like enough so that i can get one of my own. i think it comes as a surprise when any of us admit that the monkees are our favorite band of all time. people usually don't see it coming, like, at all. i'm glad its something special the three of us share, though.

we've seen the monkees in their current lineup (micky, davy and peter) at least 4 times. we've seen peter solo with his other band (shoe suede blues) 3 or 4 times. we saw micky solo a few times, and we saw micky with davy once. on their current 45th (!!!) anniversary tour they are not coming to cleveland, so the three of us are using beth's 30th birthday this weekend as an excuse for a roadtrip to go see them 2.5 hours away. i'm very excited! they're so much a part of my life and my relationship with my two best friends that i'm sure it will make me cry. the only thing that would ever make it better would be seeing all 4 monkees on the same stage, which i'm sure will never happen. but a girl can dream, can't she??? you might call me a daydream believer. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

my top 5 monkees songs (in no particular order):

1. you just may be the one

2. the kind of girl i could love

3. let's dance on

4. star collector

5. 99 pounds
(no video available)

happy fathers day!

2011-06-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

happy fathers day to the man who made me 1/2 of who i am today!

a guy with a real sense of style,

(dad's college graduation photo)

a love of music,

(that's dad on the left, goofing off at a wedding)

great taste in women,

a wonderful sense of humor,

(that's us, baking my mom a birthday cake with my dad's underwear on our head)

(mustache party: l-r me, my cousin beth, dad, mom)

an appreciation for hot cars,

(that' dad in the middle with his cute wave, surrounded by my uncle bob on the left and my uncle frank on the right)

and an all-around swell guy who raised quite a family :)

(me, mom and dad - why do i look like i only have one eye?!?!)

(mom, dad and me - matching outfits)

(portrait studio time!)

(dad, my brother mike, me)

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

new blog feature: scrapbook a go-go!

2011-06-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

one look at my blog and its obvious that i collect stuff. but what you may not know is that i've been collecting junk for a looong time. when i was 12 i started a collage on my wall of pictures and papers and other things that were important to me. my mom, being as sensible as she is, suggested, "why don't you keep your things in one of those photo album scrapbooks? that way your things won't get ruined when you tape them up on the wall."

like a predictable preteen, i told her that was the stupidest idea i ever heard, then turned around and put all my things in a photo album scrapbook so they wouldn't get ruined. the album quickly took on a life of its own -- not just photos but anything i thought was funny, amusing, sentimental or memorable for whatever reason. old photos. found grocery lists. funny labels. one scrapbook soon turned into over a dozen, with each volume clearly representing periods of my life. i'm still adding to them to this day.

i'm not sure if anyone enjoys when i do the "inside hotel hot trash" posts because i don't usually get too many comments on them, but i thought this might be a fun new thing to try. if not, at least i get the chance to pull out the old books and relive some (bizarre) memories.

i imagine myself introducing this all epic-like, like the king of cartoons. time for some SCRAPBOOK A GO-GO!

as a bonus for my first installment, here's two pages out of different books.

A. our summertime friends from THE summer, danny and dale. my cousin beth and i used to like cutting out word bubbles from the sunday comics and taping them to photos. i have no idea where danny got that cowboy-ish hat, or why dale was wearing an army helmet.
B. foil star. not sure of the significance.
C. a cartoon i drew poking fun at how tre cool from green day used the phrase "let my hair down sometimes" in an interview when he was talking about getting wild
D. a note my brother chris wrote to the easter bunny when he was little, requesting all his personal information PLUS ten autographs ("hi easter bunny could you leave your phone number, address and zip code please and 10 signed papers")
E. an old photo of beth and i at a birthday party of hers with gift wrappers tied around our heads like cool kids

A. photo of me (on right in red and white dress, circa age 2) and my cousin beth (circa age 3) at one of my birthday parties. that is clancy the clown in the background, a cousin on my mom's side who did a stint as a professional clown.
B. ticket stub from ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus
C. movie stub from the jackass 2 movie that i saw in pittsburgh
D. vintage sticker for nerds candy
E. quote from a lady i used to work with that i wrote on a price ticket so i wouldn't forget it ("whoop-de-do is NOT the way of the lord!")
F. ticket stub from kennywood's phantom fright night

photo dump

2011-06-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

here are some things i've been collecting while i've been ignoring all of you. oops!

guitar wolf in detroit, michigan:

cute cats:

pogo is all "oh HAY mom! here i am!"

recent junkin scores:

an abnormally awesome day at the flea market for me...allow me to break it down further

retro 80s lips phone: $2
plastic hillbilly statue: .25

vintage 8-track player: $5
ceramic big-eyed poodle: $1

velvet willie nelson (!!!): $4

ed gein wood splinters from buildings on his property: $1
quite possibly the best flea market score EVER. even if they weren't real, its still so ridiculous its great.

i got this awesome old photo from a picker. its huge. i love all the homemade instruments, like the tin cans and the sax made out of plastic tubing or whatever.

meet fink the mink. josh and i have been into taxidermy lately, but we started out with the real beginners stuff: shark in a jar, small fruit bat incased in lucite, alligator head, baby alligator, etc. this is our first bigger piece and we got him for a sweet deal. welcome to hotel hot trash, fink the mink!!!

overheard at horriblefest 6

2011-05-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

jophetamine to mr. california, during cauliflower ass and bob's set: good thing we went first...there's no way we woulda been able to follow this!

*****

me to the singer of cola freaks: hey, good show!
mads: hey thanks..haven't we met before?
me: yeah...the last time you were here and you pinned me against the wall, wanting to take my life.
mads: oh yeah, that did happen! isn't your name erin? and you have a radio show?

*****

_____'s bass player: they have free bowling and shoes.
_____'s singer: fuck yeah! that's fucking awesome!
_____'s bass player: really? i didn't know you were so excited about bowling.
_____'s singer: oh. i thought you said free BLOW and shoes.

*****

timmy vulgar, holding up a smashed beer can after flyin' trichecos set: slamdance beer! hey paul, look! this beer can got SLAMDANCED! it's SLAMDANCE BEER!!!!!

*****
mc tony: why are you huffing my shirt? silly girls! no, you can't huff it, it's deodorant!
julia: if we can't huff it, FUCK IT!!!

*****

oh, life

2011-05-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

life has been really overwhelming and stressful lately. so much so that i'd rather just put a pillow over my head and forget its even happening. to keep lookin on the bright side, i thought i would highlight a bunch of awesome things that are coming up in the next month or so. as long as i stay busy hopefully i won't think about how dumb things are sometimes.

horriblefest makes its 6th return to cleveland next week and i'm soo not ready for it -- honestly, i haven't been ready for it all year long, which is why i had next to nothing to do with the planning of it this year. partially because of that i'm not as excited as i have been in the past, but i am looking forward to seeing some friends coming in from out of town and i'm sure it will end up being a hilarious disaster like it always is.

artwork by friend and fellow blogger ben of hoarder of awesome!

the following week josh and i are skipping town to celebrate our 3-year anniversary a bit early. we'll catch a rock'n'roll show, hit up some record stores, and most importantly, finally meet one of my nearest and dearest internet/blogger friends diane of wouldn't you like to see something strange? SO EXCITING! oh yeah, i guess it's kinda cool that we'll be going to see cheap time/guitar wolf as well ; )

then as soon as we get back from our rock'n'roll getaway we'll be kickin it up on our own turf with installment #2 of SHAKE IT UP AND MOVE! we'll have live bands, djs (including yours truly!) and the usual mayhem. and the best part is that its all FREEEEEE.

the night after shake it up and move, the spits are playing in town. good god, i hope i survive that week.

next month the new bomb turks are doing a few reunion shows, including one here in cleveland. haven't seen them since the free show they did at the rock hall a few years back where eric davidson tried to pop my collar while he was on stage and he succeeded in popping a few buttons off the front of my shirt. oops. he's such a grabby guy. i know lacey will back me up on this one.

then, while eric is still in town, he's gonna run on over to now that's class to read some excerpts from his new book entitled, "we never learn: the gunk punk undergut, 1988-2001." he's also got a dvd to show featuring some of the 90s garage punk bands he talks about in his book. then the two of us are gonna play records like there's no tomorrow and just when you thought it couldn't get any better the struttin cocks are gonna play a live set and send you home to your mama.

***you're wondering when this is ever gonna end, aren't you??? sorry, bub, a rock'n'roller's work is never really done***

i just got the WONDERFULLY EXCITING news that i'll be dj'ing with r&b legend ANDRE "MR. RHYTHM" WILLIAMS at the end of june. you may know him from such hits as "jailbait" and "bacon fat." or maybe you know him for writing the song "shake a tail feather" done by such class acts as james and bobby purify and the five du-tones. or maybe you know him for giving the comedic legend red foxx his nickname. regardless, this man is a living legend and if you can't make it out to see one of his live shows you might as well just jump off a pier. i can't believe i get to dj a show with him -- this is definitely the highlight of my 7-year hot trash dj'ing career!!!

and to wrap up june, i'll be heading to columbus with my dearest girls to see our favorite band in the whole world...THE MONKEES! its their 45th anniversary tour and there's still no mike in the mix, but i'll settle for seeing micky, peter and davy one more time. we've seen the three of them at least 3 other times, plus seeing peter solo three times, micky solo once and davy and micky together once. i love those boys TO DEATH!

i might cry when i see the monkees this time. probably will.

15% off sale at FRENZY!

2011-04-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

as a thank you for making 100 sales, FRENZY! is having its first sale! simply enter the coupon code "FRENZYFIRST" at checkout and you will receive 15% off your entire purchase!

i could really use some extra dollars these days, so go crazy :)

thanks for all your support since opening the shop!!

old-timey burlesque love (warning: partial yet tasteful nudity!)

2011-04-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

knowing my love for all things old-timey, risque and on the fringe of society, it should come as no surprise that i have a sincere appreciation for vintage pinup and burlesque. i love the fact that they were doing such a controversial thing at a time when mainstream culture was ambivalent to such casual attitudes about sexuality. to me, that's what made it so exciting then and not so much now. i will never claim to be an expert on the subject, OR even very knowledgeable, but i do love to learn about it and enjoy it a great deal. just like discovering great old music i never knew existed, i feel like the history of burlesque is an untapped resource that i have yet to fully explore.

this isn't a subject i broach very often, lest i be lumped in with the "burlesque revival" crowd that often seems silly to me. i'm sure i'm going to catch some flak for this, but i would like to warn anyone who might be offended right now that there is no need for that because i am not pointing fingers at anyone in particular. no offense if this is your thing, because it certainly isn't everyone i'm referring to, but a majority of what is now being presented in the name of "burlesque" seems trite and trashy to me -- which is a shame, because it could be so well done when done right. i hate that it has now become an avenue for insecure girls to say, "i have so much more confidence now thanks to burlesque!" when really they are mixing up "self-esteem" with "attention from sleazy guys because you took your clothes off." but i digress.

perhaps you remember a blog entry i did a few years ago about the older woman i worked with who had a secret past as a burlesque star. i haven't talked to her much since leaving that job, but i still think about her often and am dying to see the scrapbooks she kept from her days in the circuit.

the reason i brought up this subject was because i got something cool in the mail today. it's an original vintage photo of burlesque star/model/performer lynne o'neill. she was known as "the original garter girl" because of the way she incorporated throwing her garters out to the audience during her stage shows. the photo is censored because i may be in mixed company here on blogland, but the real deal is the real deal!

i found it to be a pretty neat piece of history (plus i'm obsessed with old photographs) and it was even better because it was very fairly priced for an item that isn't all that common in the marketplace (that being authentic artifacts from big names in burlesque's heyday). i can't wait to frame it and hang it up.

wanting to know just how i came across such a good deal, i began searching around to find out what i could about the sale where this particular photo came from and i learned that lynne o'neill died in 2010 and there was a huge estate sale to liquidate all her possessions. what a dream to have been able to attend that estate sale! here is one of the articles i found online talking about the estate sale and some of the items that were for sale.

i recently had a conversation about burlesque with my friend bryan where he shared one of his favorites, an often overlooked performer from right here in youngstown, ohio that went by the name zorita. her signature act was a snake dance she did with her two boas, "oscar" and "elmer." personally i think the best part about her was the hot lily munster 'do she had going on (waaay before it was cool!)

as for pinup art, my favorite artist has always been gil elvgren. here are a few of my ultimate faves.

feel free to share your opinions on the subjects discussed here, because it seems everyone has one!

buggin out

2011-04-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

josh and i have been talking lately and came to the conclusion that we really need to cut back on our spending habits and start saving a bit better. this is especially hard for me, because if i go too long without a junkin fix i start to get the jitters like i drank sixty pots of coffee. i gots it baaad, and its a hard habit to break. i'm sure some of you junk hoarders out there can relate.

but before we started curbing our junk trips i managed to score these sweet record compilations all in one place. sure i paid more than i wanted to on a junking adventure, but do i regret it in retrospect? NOT ONE BIT!

so what does all this mumbo jumbo mean? well, chances are you can expect less cool stuff being posted and more of us acting like mature adults. YUCKY!!!!! i'm blowing raspberries as i type.

busy miss lizzie

2011-04-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

PHEW! things have been crazy 'round hotel hot trash lately. today we'll welcome house guests #7, 8 and 9 all within the past week! they don't call this hotel hot trash for nuthin. maybe, baby from washington, d.c. was here last week to play on hot trash and we hung out and ate pizza til thursday. this weekend the memphis morticians pajama partied it up (for real, von erickson had the best orange halloween pajama pants you've ever seen!) and we took them to our favorite diner in the morning before they left to head back to new york. tonite the overnight lows from jackson, mississippi will be playing live on hot trash (tune in if you are around tonite from 11pm-1am est! at www.wcsb.org)

last week i also got my first tattoo in years. welcome to my life, #17! its been a long time coming and it turned out pretty sweet.

obsessed? who, me? naaaaaaaah.

if you like silly stories, i have good news for you:

2011-03-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

time for a new blog!

THE LIST BY BETH AND ERIN!

started a new blog with my cousin beth. ever since 1994 (when we were 12) we've been keeping a list of everything we thought was funny: quotes, people, stories, etc.

it was always a huge secret and no one was allowed to see it, but those close to us knew it existed and it was some sort of status symbol to be added to "the list" by something you did or said.

we decided the time has finally come to share the funny with the rest of the world. please feel free to check out the blog and become a follower. we will be posting new stories, quotes, photos and goodness knows what else ALL THE TIME!

boy do i love a good sidesplitter!

beth and i, making a music video to "slam" by onyx

inside hotel hot trash: extra extra extra cheese

2011-03-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

yesterday, josh made me the happiest girl in the whole wide world. the reason, you ask? A GIANT F'IN CHEESEBURGER.

the back story is best explained in an excerpt from a blog entry i did on april 3rd 2010, almost exactly one year ago: "i have a chip on my shoulder and i need to vent. this morning josh and i went to a garage sale where i saw a craigslist post saying they had a giant plastic mayor mccheese for sale. I KNEW THAT GIANT CHEESEBURGER NEEDED TO BE MINE! i figured the chances of making it mine would probably fairly good, seeing as how there aren't that many crazy people like me who would want a giant plastic cheeseburger in their house. i was even picking out where to put it in my mind. we got to the place and i spotted it on a table and i thought to myself, "damn! i knew it! it was meant to be! just sittin here, waiting for me..." then i walked up to it and noticed that dude had put a $650 price tag on it. he explained it was because it was "so rare." GEEZ! if only i had the foresight to steal a plastic cheeseburger out of a mcdonalds playground back in the eighties!"

cut to present day and THIS is what josh came home with yesterday!!!

it started when i brought up the $600 cheeseburger that was not to be. i said something about it to josh's friend travis, who had spent the nite. josh overheard our conversation and admitted, "oh yeah, i forgot to tell you! i saw one at an antique store a few weeks ago!" i about strangled him! when i asked why he didn't get it for me immediately knowing how bad i wanted one, his response was that it was too expensive at $180. GAH!

i said, "holy crap, i have that in my wallet RIGHT NOW! go get it!" and i sent him off with my fingers crossed while i had to leave for work. i didn't know how i would concentrate at work all day with the suspense, wondering if someone had gotten to it before he could return a few weeks later to claim it. luckily i didn't have to, because he texted me a photo of mayor mccheese before i even arrived at work. i called him and asked if he paid for it yet and he said, "no, its on the floor in front of me."

"hurry up and pay for it before anyone else gets it!"

"uhhh, i don't think anyone else wants it," he told me, and i could hear the ladies at the antique store laughing in the background at the thought of this panicked girl freaking out about her giant cheeseburger. so that's the story, THIS time with a happy ending. and a happy girl!

obviously, i demanded a photo shoot immediately.

(even the cats were excited! i love that as soon as it came in the door, pogo already had her paw on it like she laid her claim)

my fairy monster-mother

2011-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

i have a fairy monster-mother.

last week, i came home from work and logged on to check my etsy. i had a message from a seller i didn't recognize. they didn't have a shop, had no profile information filled out, had a very plain avatar, and it said that they had become a member of etsy that day. strange indeed. inside the message from them was a simple link to a facebook site. no explanation, no signature, no nothing! i wouldn't have even clicked on it if it weren't for the title of the message.

imagine my surprise when i click on the link and the facebook page takes me to a shop with a photo of not one, but TWO monsters that i adore. i almost hyperventilated trying to figure out if they were for sale and if so how i could get them before anyone else could. long story short, i found out that my etsy shop came up in a google search when the owner of this shop was trying to research what she had on her hands. she was nice enough to create an account just to get a hold of me because she knew i was looking for them! out of thin air, i had acquired a fairy monster-mother! neat!

as if this story isn't already cool enough, it was more than just a pair of monsters -- they were twins!! TWINS!! matching colors but in the opposite patterns. have you ever SEEN such a thing???! two matching monster twins, in great shape, probably kept together since birth. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

the happy family...

PLUS TWINS!!!

truly a happy day indeed

as it turns out, my fairy monster-mother is linda, one half of the pair who owns and runs this excellent vintage shop in the seattle, washington area called no parking on pike. just LOOK at this place! i'm dying to visit. if you're in the neighborhood, stop in and buy me something!

3-year anniversary plans

2011-03-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

**this entry is lifted directly from my other blog, which you can find here! MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY**

the cat is out of the bag: josh and i will be spending our 3-year anniversary in sunny detroit, michigan on a one day, one nite trip to see GUITAR WOLF!!!

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actually we're gonna be a little early (our anniversary is a month later), but who couldn't use an excuse to get outta town in the middle of the week every once in a while?!

you may know guitar wolf as rock'n'roll zombie slayers from the movie "wild zero":

or you probably just know them as one of the most badass rock'n'roll bands out of japan. either way, YAY!!! also opening are my pals cheap time, who don't have a cleveland date on this tour and i will happily travel a few hours out of my way to catch.

as if this trip couldn't get any more amazing, i will FINALLY get to meet my internet friend/kindred "sister" spirit, diane of good mourning, glory! and woudln't you like to see something strange? i'm ecstatic!

ironically, josh and i also spent our 2-year anniversary in detroit catching the oblivians and the gories.

while there for the show, we stayed in a cute little town outside of detroit called monroe. we were disappointed that we didn't have enough time to really explore, so maybe we'll end up there again! here are a few photos from last year's trip.

next year we'll be breaking the tradition and there won't be any romantic detroit getaways for us. on our 4-year anniversary, we'll be GETTING HITCHED!!!

crafty goodness and SHAKE IT UP AND MOVE!

2011-03-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

phew! things have been busy around ol' hotel hot trash. and today had some milestones as far as swamp rat photography is concerned. first off, i was lucky enough to be included as a vendor in the brand new local handmade arts/craft store, crafty goodness. its filled with awesome stuff made by fellow clevelanders with their own two hands and i'm in GREAT company! today was the grand opening and i found out that i already sold my first photo at the pre-party last nite! so cool. the store looks amazing and it seems like its going to be tons of fun to visit and see what new things are brewing. and wait til you see what i came home with!!! this ordinary glass beer bottle was altered using a process called "bottle slumping." once the bottle had the shit slumped out of it, it magically turned flat into the most badass spoon rest on earth! isn't this crazy fantastic?!

it was made by one of the co-owners of the shop, who also happens to be a cousin of mine. we're a crafty bunch, what can i say?? if you're in the area, definitely look them up (they're also on facebook!) and stop in sometime!

then i came home from work today to find that swamp rat was featured on the front page of etsy for the first time ever. WHEE! it even got me a sale and some new friends, so that's amazing news as well.

in addition to all the craftiness going on, josh and i have been preparing for the debut night of SHAKE IT UP AND MOVE! we got together with a couple of friends who have similar interests in music and a love for the teen dance cultures of the past to bring a night of free music and fun times. again, if you're in the area, stop by and say hi!!! i'm dj'ing and josh is playing, along with our friends shouting thomas torment, miss firecracker and kitty b shake (all the way from france!!!) its next friday, march 11th and its FREEE!

please watch with volume up

2011-02-25T20:52:00.001-08:00

honey badger don't give a shit.

thanks for the treat, dummy!!!

photo survey

2011-02-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

this is a photo survey borrowed from lacey, whose blogs i have been reading for like ten years now!

1. a photo of yourself

2. a picture of you and the person you have been closest to for the longest

3. a picture of the cast from your favorite show

4. a picture from your night

5. a picture of something you miss

6. a picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

7. a picture of your most treasured item

8. a picture that makes you laugh

9. a picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

10. a picture of the person you do the craziest things with

11. a picture of something you hate

12. a picture of something you love

13. a picture of your favorite band or artist

14. a picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

15. a picture of something you want to do before you die

16. a picture of someone who inspires you

17. a picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

18. a picture of your biggest insecurity

19. a picture of somewhere you'd like to travel

20. a picture of something you wish you could forget

21. a picture of something you wish you were better at

22. a picture of your favorite book

23. a picture of something you wish you could change

24. a picture of your day

25. a picture of something that means a lot to you

26. a picture of yourself and a family member

27. a picture of something you're afraid of

28. a picture that can always make you smile

29. a picture of someone you miss

30 things

2011-02-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

sometimes i forget that not everybody who follows this blog is someone that i know in real life. i figured its an ok idea to post things like this on the blog every once in a while, sorta like a virtual "hi, nice to meet ya" handshake. here are 30 things about me that you may or may not know.

1. one of my biggest irrational fears is the thought of bugs crawling on me. when something actually DID crawl on me the other night when i laid down in bed, i freaked out and cried and refused to go to bed (much to josh's dismay - he had to be up for work soon). i've been traumatized every night since and haven't had a good nights sleep in days.

2. i met my first real boyfriend when he found my profile in the aol members directory online. our first in-person meeting was at parmatown mall. i liked the friend he brought along instead of him. we ended up dating for almost 5 years.

3. in high school, my car got broken into when i was at a blanks 77/total chaos/l.e.s. stitches show at the agora downtown. someone stole bags of christmas presents i had for my high school's fundraiser where we bought $100 worth of toys for needy kids in cleveland. i wrote a letter about it and the plain dealer published it. i hope the person who stole those toys saw it and felt really bad.

4. i met lemmy from motorhead. the photo of us together is one of my most prized possessions.

5. in high school i played bass in a band. we covered "have i the right?" by the honeycombs and "brains" by the misfits. we played a show at the agora and the old grog shop.

6. i have several penpals who are convicted serial killers.

7. i've never been drunk.

8. i can't ever remember a time where i've felt comfortable about the way i look.

9. i was obsessed with the band green day from the time i was 12 until sometime in my early/mid twenties. they were the band that really got me into music, and for that i will always be thankful. i honestly don't believe i would be the person i am today without a band like that and an insatiable love for music that developed because of them. i have two green day tattoos, and still have a special place for them in my heart. having a picture taken with billie joe is still on my "must accomplish" list.

10. i can't stop living in the past. i'm obsessed with favorite memories of my own, as well as the thought of what life would have been like far into the past before i was even born.

11. i have an irrational fear of large bodies of water, but i also love nautical imagery and am very interested in shipwrecks, specifically the titanic. maybe this is the aquarius in me.

12. i was born in the early morning hours of valentines day.

13. i've had some spooky experiences with a ouija board. i believe in ghosts.

14. the most money i've ever found was $100 in the pocket of some thrift store shorts.

15. in college i took a class called "history of the black death"; an entire semester all about the bubonic plague.

16. childhood crushes include george michael (notoriously gay musician), carlos baerga (cleveland indians baseball player), tevin campbell (r&b singer) and all of the monkees

17. i've had a chronic cough for the past 5 years or so. sometimes i cough so much that i throw up. i'm finally getting it checked out, and its looking very possible that i will be diagnosed with asthma.

18. i played clarinet in the school band in grade school. i never really liked it much, but my parents encouraged it because my dad used to play clarinet when he was a kid.

19. it bothers me when people don't like me, even if i don't like them.

20. i have the most amazing relationship ever. its better than anything i could have made up. we're getting married in a cemetery next year.

21. i was on a writing team in grade school called power of the pen. i won the regional competition and took our team to states. i won something, but i forget what. 10th place in the state of ohio? something like that.

22. i miss friends i had in grade school more than ones from high school or college. i doubt i have much of anything in common with most of them these days. i bet i turned out exactly like they imagined i would. a lot of us have found each other on facebook.

23. several years ago, i tracked down almost every member of the sketch comedy show "the state" and invited them to my birthday party. i tried to lure them with the promise of our infamous family party punch. several of them (like david wain and todd holoubek) actually responded and regretfully declined. that show is still my favorite tv show ever.

24. some fads i wore at various times in my life: stretch pants with lace at the bottom and a long sweater in day-glo colors (early 90s), those t-shirts with bugs bunny and taz dressed all hip-hop (mid 90s), cardigan sweaters & corduroy pants (late 90s), a chain with a padlock around my neck (late 90s-early 00s)

25. i was so angry about the assignment of a 15-minute speech for my senior seminar in college that i devised a sneaky plan to get back at the teacher: i purposely picked the topic of "spirit photography" to write my paper so that i could put a sheet over my head and deliver my speech as a ghost in front of the class. it did make me feel better about things, but unfortunately i only got a B- because the teacher said i messed with my eyeholes too much while i was trying to see my notecards.

26. i thought i was in love 4 times in my life. it was probably more like 2.

27. i used to be pals with the band gob, who are sorta like the canadian version of green day. they would come over my house to eat dinner when they were in town, we hung out on their tour bus when they insisted we meet their friends sum 41, they met my parents, and once we got backstage passes to hang out in the dressing room and watch the entire show from the side of the stage. this was my first introduction into the world of befriending musicians. those boys made my heart really happy as an impressionable young kid, and the fact that they took such good care of us and made us feel special probably has something to do with the fact that i feel responsible for taking care of the touring bands i'm friends with today and trying to help them out. i miss those guys and wish we hadn't lost contact.

28. i would rather be at home than anywhere else. i'm a total homebody.

29. i have a tattoo that guarantees me "free records for life."

30. i have a soft spot in my heart for terrible 90s music, specifically the "alternative rock" and early "hip hop/r+b/rap" genres. i still rock out some toadies and new kids on the block from time to time.

your turn!

etsy update

2011-01-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

added some new prints to the shop! in some related news, its only a matter of time before the new salty not sweet opens, complete with a few swamp rat prints for sale!! i can't tell you how exciting it is to be featured in a real store :)

forgotten cleveland accordian sign 5x7 print

gates of graceland 5x7 print

forgotten cleveland hot dog sign 5x7 print

jesco white, the dacing outlaw 5x7 print

lemmy is god 5x7 print

dia de los muertos shrine 5x7 print

sold and relisted:

vintage schwinn 5x7 print

inside hotel hot trash: the surfin bird

2011-01-19T18:16:00.000-08:00

it's back to the white stuff outside here in cleveland. in an attempt to ignore winter and be in complete denial that its even here, i'm gonna think happy sunny thoughts. the word of the day here at hotel hot trash? SURF!

(you know what to do whenever anyone says the secret word, right? scream real loud! or something.)

i must admit, i've never surfed in my life nor do i have any real interest to. i'm not athletically inclined in the least, and i don't like water sports that ruin my hairdo. that doesn't stop us from having a few surf-related items here at HHT.

josh got this cool license plate at a barn sale for $1. it was the same barn sale that had the giant plastic cheeseburger for sale that broke my heart, but i digress.

no place is complete without a crazed-looking ratfink holding a surfboard that he chomped on.

see that kooky little blue guy up in the top left corner? he's one of my favorite guys here at hotel hot trash, and one of my best thrift scores ever. i literally can't find one single thing about him online, so i have no idea when he is from. his tag reads "T.L. Toys HK LTD." if you have any info on this guy, by all means let me know!

so you probably want to know what's so great about him, right? well if you push the button on his foot, he sings the trashmen's "surfin bird." its not even a rerecording, its the orginal song! so cool. thank goodness for weird unlicensed products from china! though that would have been awesome if it was an officially licensed trashmen product and they sold them at their merch tables at shows and shit. ha.

here's one of my favorite surf-rock songs to keep things sunny!

working from home!

2011-01-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

cleveland is practically snowed in today, so i'm using my day off to make some homemade soup and work from home. lucky for you, that means more cool vintage. i'm letting go of some neat stuff this time (read: pinup girls, look out!!!) click on any of the images to be taken to the shop!

vintage "music to strip by" burlesque record

hard to find 80s dakin frou frou troll bear plush

hard to find 80s snugglebumm toy

vintage rockabilly pinup girl card suit smock top

vintage rockabilly pinup girl asian-style top

set of two (2) big-eyed EDEN girl prints

set of three (3) creepy old dolls

gacy "cuddle with a serial killer" pillowcase

ted bundy "cuddle with a serial killer" pillowcase

richard ramirez "cuddle with a serial killer" pillowcase

76th

2011-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

...happy birthday to the one and only ELVIS! the only man josh would publicly admit is a "hunk" live on the airwaves, and who he admits that "every guy is jealous of, and every girl is jealous that he isn't their boyfriend."

ain't that the truth!

speaking of elvis, did you see the exciting news about our wedding???

(very) old family photos

2011-01-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

as most of you are already aware, i have a big ol' crush on old photographs (and photographs in general). it doesn't matter if the photos are of my family or not, i still horde them like there's no tomorrow (and i have boxes, bags, and an entire shelf of hotel hot trash as proof).

recently, a second cousin of mine brought out a book he's been working on at a family party. he has been researching our family tree on my mom's side and has uncovered lots of neat photos and stories about ancestors i never knew existed. i wish i talked to him more often so that i had more info to share, but at least he emailed my mom a few of the old photographs that he came across in his research. they're pretty neat!

this one reminds me of josh's song "mean old man"....hoooowheee he looks mad!

he died so young :(

absolutely LOVE these old new england-style headstones!

new vintage in frenzy!

2010-12-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

PHEW! it's been a minute and i've been lazy, but there's FINALLY a few new things listed in FRENZY!

have at it!

vintage christmas ornaments (3 boxes)

yesterday/act naturally:

day tripper/we can work it out:

all you need is love/baby you're a rich man:

wuzzles read-along book and record:

strawberry shortcake story record picture disc:

holiday wrap-up

2010-12-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

hope everyone had a good holiday!

josh and i spent a lot of time with friends and family.

i got him a taxidermy bat for christmas, and he got me an old voodoo doll from an antique store.

we're kinda creepy like that.

oh yeah, and we're totally getting married in a cemetery.

but you can read more about that here.

merry christmas!

2010-12-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

i can't believe its almost here!

if i don't see you before then...

merry christmas, y'all!

cleveland just got even cooler!

2010-12-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

i woke up to the coooooolest news today! it seems that in january, cleveland will be opening a 1920s/1930s era soda fountain not that far from our house!! i LOVE this idea! it's not even that i'm such a huge fan of ice cream and sweets (although a root beer float sure ain't hurtin the deal), i just love the concept of having one here because of my obsession with everything old, historic and vintage. i might want to pull out a sleeping bag behind the counter and move in.

check this out!!! it's called "sweet moses" and there is a neat article about the inspiration behind the place HERE. they're also on facebook! be sure to watch the cute teaser video they posted so you can be as excited as i am. ; )

i'm glad there is this resurgence of local interest lately. between independent businesses promoting buying locally and city residents showing a refreshing new cleveland pride, i'm definitely loving the state of affairs in this here town at the moment. not to mention, i love the fact that i'm practically IMMERSED in it right where all the action is! i love having a radio show on such an influential station rich in history (and the fact that cleveland has SEVERAL college radio stations that are top-fucking-notch!). i know that not every city is lucky enough to have this, and i never want to take that for granted. it still astounds me that i work at one of the coolest businesses in town, hands down. and i try to be as involved as possible in the local music scene, whether its booking shows, supporting live music and local music venues, or encouraging the one man monster band that i share a roof with. ha!

all this set the stage for the news i received last week as well, which was that a local business by the name of salty not sweet will begin carrying some of our swamp rat photography starting next month! i was filled with so much cleveland pride i almost cried a little. i hope other people enjoy the work we have to offer, which includes loads of c-town images with loving affection carefully worked into each piece.

here is a bumper sticker we sell at my work. it's true, and we're proud of it!

got some 'splainin to do

2010-11-30T16:13:00.000-08:00

this morning i was up at 6:15 to go to work. i am not a morning person at all, so i will admit i am in a bit of a fog when i first get out of bed. as i was about to walk out the door, i noticed megadeth laying in front of the stove swatting underneath furiously and trying to reach something that was just beyond her furry little grasp. the 3 cats are always losing their beloved feather mice and jingly balls underneath the furniture. i went and pulled out the extra curtain rod i have laying around the house for this exact purpose and did a wide sweep underneath the entire stove, prepared to reward megadeth with her favorite mouse toy. instead, i knocked loose a burrito.

A BURRITO?!?!

being that i was in this sleep-induced fog that i mentioned earlier, the first irrational thought that ran through my head was, "why was there a GIANT rawhide bone underneath our stove? we don't have a dog." then i realized that what i was looking at was an unwrapped frozen burrito, no longer frozen. i gotta say, it was a little funny, and i was also slightly annoyed that josh would drop a burrito on the ground and leave it there for god knows how long. did it drop and he couldn't find where it went so he gave up? did he kick it under the stove so he could pretend he didn't know where it fell and not have to pick it up? i figured i would ask him later when he woke up and i gave the curtain rod one more sweep to find the toy megadeth was after in the first place. i brought the rod out and there it was. ANOTHER BURRITO.

TWO GODDAMN BURRITOS JUST HANGING OUT UNDER THE STOVE.

i left the (curiously intact -- don't those things decompose?) burritos in a plastic bag on the counter for josh, along with a note that said "seems you have some 'splainin to do!"

josh has maintained an "i don't know NUTHIN!" stance all day long.

in the end, i can only assume that megadeth was after a real mouse who was under the stove chomping on a mexican feast josh was nice enough to provide.

thanksgiving and the spiral staircase

2010-11-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

i've been cooking like a mofo today. i made two pumpkin cheesecakes from scratch and i've never made them before...hope they turn out alrite! i also made deviled eggs for tomorrow, and made pepper steak for dinner today. i'm ready to sit around eating yummy things and hanging out with fam tomorrow!

in entirely unrelated news, i started a new blog to contain all wedding nonsense in one place. i welcome all advice and opinions, as i'm pretty nervous and stressed when i think about planning this whole thing!

http://www.butnotasmuchastomorrow.blogspot.com

have a good thanksgiving, y'all!

love make a girl do craaazy things

2010-11-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

part of me still can't believe that josh finally asked me to marry him. not that we've been dating for decades or anything, but its still felt like it was a long time coming because i truly believe i knew we were going to end up together from the very beginning. i was just thinking the other day that i barely remember what life was like before josh. he's like an extension of me. that's sooo cheesy but i don't know how else to explain it. we never really had to "work" at being a couple...it just fit into place perfectly. we're such a perfect match. it's almost scary.

i always told myself i would never be one of those people who couldn't stop talking about the wedding planning (and i honestly believed i wouldn't really want to think about it, either!) but i find the topic sneaking its way into conversations much too often. at least there are a lot of things josh and i want to do "our" way, so they won't be your run-of-the-mill plans. but still. i never wanted to talk about floral arrangements or bore anyone with talk about catering, yet here i am yapping away. whats become of me?!? luckily, all the planning that we've done thus far has somehow fallen into place very effortlessly (knock on wood).

i know no one cares about this stuff. i guess i just sorta felt like maybe writing about it would make it seem more real to me. and now is as good a time as any to issue the following public service announcement:

dear josh's crazy ex who harassed us relentlessly for months and told his mom she was pregnant with his baby (she wasn't) and told me she was engaged to josh and could prove it with the ring he gave her (he never did),
I WIN! HA!
love,
erin

inside hotel hot trash: platter paks and record totes!

2010-11-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

by now y'all know i collect way too many things. one of my greatest loves is old 45 record totes. i can't get enough of them! eventually when josh and i have a place of our own i would like to find a better way to display them, but for now they're housing random 45s and are scattered around the record room. they're a fun thing to collect cuz there are so many variations :)

there are a bunch on this shelf. two of my favorites are on there, in both red and green versions. i also love old peaches crates, but they're so hard to find anymore.

here's a close-up of the green one, which is one of my favorites!

here's a wider shot with lots more:

want a closer look?

and here's the other side of the room:

unfortunately, i only have one 33 1/3 rpm case:

these two guys are my ultimate favorites! wish i could find more like them. underneath all their fur they are like the round plastic ones pictured above.

i am ALWAYS on the hunt for 45 totes, so if you have any leads it would be much appreciated :)
til next time...

my most prized possessions, halloweekend...and NEWS

2010-11-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

as some of you probably know (because i think i've said so in this blog before), one of my most prized possessions ever is this photo of me and lemmy. i mean, i don't even need to explain that, right? it does not get cooler than lemmy.

other prized possessions that i've never told you about are my grandma's vintage wedding and engagement rings that my uncle gave to me when she died. they're beautiful, old, exactly what i would have picked for myself. AND they're mine to wear now that josh proposed to me over the weekend.

WHAT?!?!?!

now that i've accomplished my goal of incorporating lemmy into my engagement announcement, let me explain a bit.

josh and i got all dressed up to go to my radio station's masquerade ball. we saw the dickies and other bands, hung out with friends, took pictures of lots of good costumes, and got lots of nice compliments on ours. to see more photos from the party, visit my show's facebook page at www.facebook.com/hottrash!

on halloween, we went to my family's house for dinner and passed out candy over there while my brothers put on masks and made little kids run screaming down the street. ha. after we got home, i joked that we should get married (what better day than halloween?!) and josh surprised the hell out of me by agreeing, and asking me. HOT DAMN! i guess the rest is history, or something.

i wish i could get a better photo of the ring but you'll just have to trust me that it's lovely. i've been waiting for this day (very impatiently!) since the moment i met josh. i knew right away i wanted to marry him and it's finally happening...i better stop now before i get all mushy and start to cry.

HOORAY!

gettin ready for a (hallo) weenie time

2010-10-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

sorry to have bummed people out so much with my last entry that i lost a follower. i mean honestly, that's kinda lame that i can't say things suck when they do, but whatever. you were probably only following my blog to win a contest or somethin, anyway.

trying to force a smile on my face and have fun this weekend, because DOGGONE IT i deserve it. our radio station masquerade ball is saturday where we will present the legendary DICKIES and josh and i will get all costumed up (stay tuned for photos).

then as we all know sunday is finally HALLOWEEN so hopefully i'll spend some time with family and watch my brothers make little kids scream when they stop for candy at my parents house. maybe someone will cry again this year.

have a fun and safe halloween weekend, y'all! here's some of my favorite clips and songs to get ya in the mood:

("hold on, i'm gonna put the phone on my bionic ear.")

(sometimes i still can't believe i got to see this band last year. BEST. SHOW. EVER.)

(the disco scene at the end is the best part)

(screamin' lord sutch)

(a family favorite)

(munsters theme, surfin' style?! yes, please!)

(the best!)

(round robin)

(i have a copy of this movie but have yet to watch it...what better time than now?! it looks rad!)

rough times

2010-10-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

i want to be here, but all i can think about is the crap i've been dealing with lately. in a weeks time i've lost an aunt and a friend (and fellow college radio dj). my aunt was the mother of my two cousins, who are like my sisters, so this whole thing has been especially hard on my entire family. the friend died unexpectedly--was found unconscious yesterday morning, was on life support with failing organs by nightfall, and had died by the time i woke up this morning. death is never easy, but it seems even harder to wrap your head around it when the people involved are so young. both were in their forties.

sorry to be such a bummer, but i'm in a rough place right now. don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me for a while. hope to be back soon.

vintage halloween

2010-10-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

among the dozens of collections i have is a big soft spot in my heart for vintage halloween decorations. the saying is true -- they just don't make 'em like they used to! recently i found a bunch at work and it made my DAY! some are in better shape than others, but a few are in near-mint condition. love em!

(this one's my FAVORITE!)

(vintage masks)

someone also found an old photo scrapbook in the basement at work and it had a bunch of halloween photos from the 50s/60s. how great are these?!

i know i've been saying this forever, but look for a new "inside hotel hot trash" post coming up next!

question mark tries to bite meatloaf

2010-10-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

at work there is all kinds of crap laying around that i have no idea why we ever had in the first place. one of these things was the autobiography by meatloaf, which i picked up and started reading one day on my lunch break to pass the time. i have no interest in meatloaf whatsoever (in fact i can't stand him, musically OR visually) but the book is actually very funny and i like that its a lot of short stories instead of one long memoir. here is my favorite part so far, about a band i heart. i like it because it only proves that question mark really IS as weird as you would imagine him to be. i mean, come on...the guy is like 70 and he still wears belly shirts. and he got his name legally changed to QUESTION MARK. dudes gotta be a little off his rocker. as told by meatloaf...

...basically, i was just hanging out in LA. i don't have a clue what i was doing for money. still had a little left over from the band, i guess.

and i had a lot of odd jobs, but definitely the weirdest was looking after question mark. ? and the mysterians had had a monster hit with "96 tears" in 1966. a cult classic. what they'd been doing for the last three years, however, was something of a mystery. question mark was a bit of a mystery himself.

he and the rest of the mysterians came from that same area in michigan that i'd just left: midland bay city, saginaw. popcorn blizzard actually cut a couple of demos in the same studio where they had recorded "96 tears."

the organ player was like 12 years old. and question mark at that time, in the sixties, was around 36 years old, at least. he looked ancient. pete woodman was friends with these guys and he knew question mark was a real handful. so when they came to LA to play gigs at gazzari's on the strip, they naturally want to keep him from getting unhinged. they hired me for the 2 and a half weeks to be question's bodyguard. to be his minder. they saw how big i was and figured i could control him. wrong.

according to the sources around the band, he sniffed glue. i never personally saw him do it, but he had a lot of it. ya know that airplane glue that came in tan tubes? well, let's just say he had lots of tubes of glue and no model airplanes. they tried to keep him under control but said he'd sneak out of the hotel to trash rooms, break beds and tvs, and throw things out the window.

they put me in the room right next to him. i never got any sleep. i was up 24 hours a day with this guy. he was fine during the day when everybody was moving around and stuff was going on. and on the days of the shows he seemed to be ok. he never said anything. basically, he was just led around from place to place in his wraparound sunglasses. i don't remember ever having a conversation with him. if he did talk, he spoke spanish. so that was another reason i didn't understand him.

i had a key to his room and at night i would listen at his door every hour on the hour just to make sure there was nothing going on. one night i heard strange noises coming from question's room. i unlocked the door and went in. he was prowling the room and muttering terrible curses and some unseen demon. broken chair, broken lamp. i grabbed him and took him into my room. he'd gone completely feral - he tried to bite me. i threw him on the bed and called the mysterians and together we succeeded in subduing him. kinda. i mean, he tried smoking pot to calm himself down but only succeeded in throwing up. he was a mess. i thought i was a mess. it's a weird self-help cure. take care of someone in worse shape than you are.

broke my funny bone

2010-10-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

something has been bothering me lately: the realization that my life isn't as funny as it used to be. i'm not entirely sure why this is, but i suspect that some of is has to do with the fact that my cousin beth and i are not as inseparable as we once were. somehow we were always getting ourselves into these tv sitcom situations full of slapstick humor and too many bodily function jokes. we used to do things like give each other hickeys on our arms and then convince my mom that our boss was hitting us with a paddle ball at work every time we were caught talking, leaving the bruises on our arms. or we were cutting class to go to the science building and play frisbee with kitchen pot holders that beth inexplicably kept in her bookbag. or we were making bets where the loser would have to snort really loud in class the next morning during rollcall when it was totally silent in the room...

(FYI: the loser, and in effect the snorter, was me.)

but it can't be just this, because life still doesn't seem as funny as it used to be even when beth and i ARE together. did i lose my funny somewhere along the line? did i grow out of it? why did i used to have an online diary that was entertaining enough that perfect strangers began to wish they knew me in real life? (hi, dara!)

i was just going through said diaryland diary and i became even more depressed about the state of affairs and the lack of funny these days. i guess i should just be thankful that i can look back on a time when life was, indeed, funny and appreciate it for what it was. beth and i would still like to write a book based on "the list" -- a list we began compiling back in 1994 of everything we think is funny. EVER.

but damn it if i didn't wish we still did things like make dainty cucumber sandwiches and show up at a random friend's doorstep to deliver them, or create new words for the english language like personal nasty.

personal nasty: noun. a fart that only you can smell.

2nd annual WCSB halloween masquerade ball!

2010-10-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

as most of you know, i work at (read: volunteer at) this really cool student-run radio station out of cleveland state university called WCSB. last year we had the idea to throw a free halloween costume party/show to show our listeners how much we appreciate them (and just because we like to party, dammit). being the first time we tried it and not knowing how well it would go over, we hoped for a decent turnout despite all the other halloween plans people had. in the end, i think we had around 1,000 people and it was AMAZING! my brother accurately described it as, "a scene from a movie." there were so many people in (awesome!) costumes and the theater we rented was decorated (by yours truly!) in bags and bags of spiderwebs. we had awesome bands, like the legendary ZERO BOYS, mr. california, the homostupids and sungod. a few wcsb djs got to play records between bands and i was one of them. i will never forget dj'ing a show alongside the zero boys while i was covered in blood and dressed as a pregnant (and dead) sharon tate.

this year, we're ready for round two. if you're anywhere around the cleveland area, you might want to reserve this date on your calendar! what's better than seeing THE DICKIES at a halloween masquerade ball, you ask? why, seeing the dickies FOR FREE at a halloween masquerade ball!

WHEN: saturday, october 30th
TIME: 9pm
WHERE: cleveland public theater on detroit road
WHO: sloth, puffy areolas, nunslaughter, and punk legends THE DICKIES!!!

there will be a costume contest, booze and snacks, a specially brewed wcsb beer, wcsb djs, and more mayhem than you can shake a dead chicken at!

hope to see you there :)

i wanna die (but not right now)

2010-09-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

i was hoping to find a youtube video for the hubble bubble song used above as a title, but no luck. lest you guys think i am being morbid and depressed, let me assure you that i was just singin' at you.

still sick (day #28). it's blowing my mind that i've been sick this long. josh is doing a great job of taking care of me: cooking dinner every nite, making special stops at the store for sick supplies, and even dishing out hugs and kisses left and right with wreckless abandon as though he has NOT ONE SINGLE FEAR of getting sick himself. what a wonderful one. you got that right, marvin gaye.

the other day i told josh i wanted a baby. he wasn't surprised, cuz i say it all the time. however, this time instead of giving me a nervous smirk and making some kind of wisecrack, he told me, "you know they're gonna be a little demon just like me when i was little, right?" apparently josh was prone to fits of rage in public where he would kick and scream for "DONALD FRY FRY!" (french fries from mcdonalds) until he got his way. he also told me recently that if we were to have a kid, he would let them roll around in the mud whenever they wanted to and dress up like a werewolf even if it was the middle of summer. even if its a girl. if i thought josh was a handful, i can hardly wait to see what life is like with a josh jr. in the picture.

speaking of josh, i noticed the other nite that we have some of our best conversations ever when we are laying in bed at nite, giggling in the dark. i love that.

this weekend my faux-niece will turn 1 year old! i can't believe time has gone by so quickly and i have been her nanny for this long already. it's cute that she is fairly attached to me since i am at her house so often...i love her to pieces!

in other news, today is jerry lee "the killer" lewis's 75th birthday -- awesome! hope he's gettin down with his bad self.

i'm not dead

2010-09-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

i've just been sick for over three weeks.

so basically, i might as well be dead. this bites.

gentleman jesse/strange boys show tonite. so long as i can move, i'll be there.

more later, i hope...

more of the same, plus jesco

2010-09-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

i've just been busy working, working, and working. in my (rare) free time, i also managed to score a stack of awesome soul records, dance to old country records with my wonderful boyfriend, hang with some of my friends in touring bands, and hug the guts outta josh. oh yeah, and SEE JESCO WHITE, THE DANCING OUTLAW! go ahead, be jealous.

mamie even made the trip!

so life is good. josh and i are awesome. the new job (and the old one) are great. so far i've still been able to make it to shows when a band i want to see is in town, and i haven't missed any due to work yet. i WAS disappointed when jesco's friend (acting as tour manager) asked if i wanted to hang out before the show and take them around town but i had to decline due to work. BUMMER. i miss going out junkin with josh all the time, but somehow both of us still manage to get our fix and come home with little treasures here and there. this past week i got to see friends when jesco rolled through town, as well as my dudes from daily void and wizzard sleeve later in the week. this weekend friends from australia will be in town when the uv race plays here and i'm excited to finally meet them.

the lack of free time has had me considering closing up an etsy shop (or two) or shutting down the blog, but these are things i really don't want to do unless things get TOO intense. at this point i'm just slow getting to everything, which i hope anyone who cares can be patient with. for the time being, i know i just gotta keep on keepin' on. after all, if you wanna get to heaven, you gotta raise a little hell!

i need a break from life

2010-08-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

MAN. i never have time for ANYTHING anymore. don't get me wrong, the new job is awesome. at first i thought the best part would be all the neat junk i'd be bringing home, but so far its been all the fun people i work with. i go in and hang out and laugh for several hours a day, which ain't a bad way to be. but golly, i sure do miss my boyfriend and seeing my family/friends and having free time to read books and update this thing and dig around in junk stores! i'm a little bit stressed at this point but i'm hoping things will change for the better in the near future.

here are some of my awesome scores from the past week:

sideshow freak tshirts featuring flip the pinhead and jo jo the dog faced boy:

my very own BILLY BALONEY doll! pee wee's playhouse fans know whats up:

hopefully it won't be long til i'm back........

the fair!

2010-08-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

i went to the county fair this past weekend and i had the best time!

josh and i rode an elephant!

we saw a really terrible freakshow!

i saw my first demolition derby!

i ate the most delicious chocolate-covered banana!

i pet a kangaroo! (they are SO soft!)

i watched a baby goat stand on his mother...it was sooo funny!

and most importantly, I HELD A BABY LION! it was one of the highlights of my life :) he was soooo cute. he is 15 weeks old. he kept trying to eat my hair and he was doing this adorable little growl trying to sound tough because he was angry he was being held. awwwwwww!

here are a few other random photos from the fair...

boo!

2010-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

HOLY 2ND JOB, BATMAN! i started the new job at the toy store and i feel right at home. it was meant to be, if there ever was such a thing! needless to say, my free time has shrunk significantly and i haven't been able to post anything until now. there still isn't much going on since i haven't been doing much except working, but i'll try to get back and do a REAL post very soon. that reminds me, i still never did an "inside hotel hot trash" post about my platter pak collection! gotta get on that.

in the meantime, here is a teaser playlist from last nite's episode of hot trash. its been a while since i posted one of these..hope you enjoy! as always, i'd love to have you tune in next tuesday when i'm on the air! (for a full playlist, please see the facebook link above!)

and the giveaway winner is...

2010-08-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

my first blog giveaway has come to a close! lemmy decided he wanted to help me pick a winner. he is kind of the boss around here, so i could not tell him otherwise.

lemmy's pick? diana of poppy brew!

i am a new follower of her blog and she made me laugh right away, which won me over imediately -- i suggest you check it out! congratulations to diana and thank you to everyone who participated! i had a lot of fun and look forward to doing more giveaways in the future.

diana, be sure to leave me a comment telling me which print you'd like from swamp rat photography and i'll get your package right out to you!

reason to celebrate

2010-08-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

super exciting awesome news over here at hotel hot trash! this week i will be starting my dream job at a favorite store of mine since i was younger...a vintage toy/novelty store! i got the official word last week and i am beyond thrilled..this is pants-peeing good news! just LOOK at this place!

not only is it super hard to get hired there (i applied over a year ago, plus i was personally told that they hire "by invite only"), but i feel right at home already!! if you've been over at hotel hot trash before or have at least seen photos of it, you will understand why i feel like i fit right in :)

other than that, don't forget to sign up for the blog contest i posted last time...it ends on wednesday!

trash you up 1st BLOG GIVEAWAY!

2010-07-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

i told myself i would hold a giveaway when my blog reached 100 followers. as you can see, i am a total slacker. to make up for my laziness, i am going to attempt to make this giveaway (my 1st ever!) a really intense one! first up, the goodies:

here's what you will win...
-an awesome red&white striped vintage shirt with a nautical design. size M or S.
-vintage mouse paint by number
-vintage eden mini big-eyed girl print
-"my so-called life" vhs with 2 episodes
-"do you remember?" book full of pop-culture images
-pack of vintage "it's a boy!" notecards
-a mix cd of total jams made by yours truly! includes genres like garage, soul, powerpop and more!
-3 handmade magnets (zack and screech from "saved by the bell," elvis, and a cute vintage girl)
-handmade button ring (seen in my other shop, FRENZY!)
-pick your own 5x7 print from swamp rat photography! you don't have to choose rat fink, that was just my prop. maybe you like carnival stuff? or creepy cemeteries? or rock'n'roll legends? i'd like to think i have something for everyone :)
-plus a few little surprises thrown in

what's that? you want MORE? you bet!

how about an adorable mini poloroid necklace from one of my favorite etsy sellers of all time?!

my friend phoebe is a wonderful artist who especially likes to take photos. lucky for us, she has found a way to share the beautiful things she sees in life by creating these awesome poloroid necklaces out of her own photography. i chose a carnival one for you to win, although you can always visit her shop xxo phoebemarie and see the different ones she is creating! i own 4 of these necklaces and i can't seem to curb the urge to buy more every time she comes out with a new series ; )

GIVEAWAY RULES:

1. anyone can enter. you don't have to have a blog to do so. you don't have to follow mine to enter. if you don't have a blog or your contact information isn't easily found on your blog, please include an email address when you sign up so that i can contact you if you win!

2. to enter, visit swamp rat photography on etsy. then come back here and tell me what your favorite print is in a comment. that's it!

3. for an extra entry, you can follow my blog. if you already are, please let me know!

4. for yet another entry, you can become a friend of swamp rat photography on facebook. the url is http://www.facebook.com/swampratphotography.

4. the winner will randomly be drawn one week from today on wednesday, august 4th.

GOOD LUCK! tell your friends!

photo dump + something to look forward to...

2010-07-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

i've been in a funk all week. this mood has included not leaving the house much, missing a bunch of shows i wanted to go see, and not updating this blog. luckily i am feeling better, but that doesn't leave much room for interesting things to update about since all i've been doing is reading books and playing "kirby" on nintendo.

here's a photo dump of stuff i never posted.

also, be sure to check back on wednesday (july 28th) for my first ever BLOG GIVEAWAY. i meant to do one a while ago and i'm just now getting around to it.

on with the photos...

i realized i never posted pictures from the motherload of all estate sales i went to about a month ago. i came home with several boxes of junk and one garbage bag full of vintage clothes. i'm still going through stuff and deciding what to keep and what i don't need, so some of this stuff may end up in the shop after all! everything was vintage. it came from an old lady's house and her daughter told us that she was an honest-to-goodness hoarder. i seriously should have taken a picture of the living room that was FULL of picture frames. stacks and boxes of them everywhere you tried to walk. it was insane.

the haul

christmas decorations

halloween table cloths

asian knick knacks

hula girl for my tiki collection

by this point, we were just throwing stuff in a box. need a sleeping ceramic pig or an owl thermometer magnet? WHY, SURE!

toys from an old comic strip, stamped 1969

fabulous 80s toys from my childhood! including my little ponies, a snugglebum, care bears, and more.

kewpies!

cute vintage dolls

more toys, and a bag of colorful eyeballs to make something awesome with

CREEPY rubber-face stuffed animal..very collectible!

awesome 70s tennis shoes

more creepy dolls

signs and plaques

more pictures

vintage frames

cards and stationary

mountain of vintage clothes!

pretty intense, huh? as i was taking inventory of my clothes mound, pogo decided to tunnel her way inside and hide out.

cats are so silly.

here she is again, thinking she is hiding in this paper bag:

and here is lemmy, cramming his fat self into the bathroom sink for a nap:

and finally, here is one of my favorite recent junk scores: A MONSTOR!

i saw this sitting in a pile at a junk warehouse and i HAD to have it. it only sweetened the deal when i was charged a measly $5 for it. josh and i researched this beast online and found out that they were used in the 80s to fit around gumball machines. it is currently hanging on our wall as a monster-shelf. awesome!

check back on wednesday and make sure you sign up for the giveaway! here's a hint: there may be a thing or two from my vintage haul included as a prize!!

hot fun in the summertime

2010-07-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

i haven't been around much, mostly because josh and i have been hosting some out of town (and out of the country!) house guests. our friends from the band poppets came all the way from sweden to tour with our other pals, the sweet sixteens. all of us got to spend two days/nights hanging out around bonfires, drinking beer, listening to rock'n'roll and laughing our asses off.

things started with a daytime show at now that's class. i set up the show along with a bbq/flea market, and while the soaring temperatures kept a lot of people away there was still much fun to be had. i mean, how can you NOT have fun when there is party bands in their underwear involved?

the sweet sixteens

the sweet sixteens

dancin to the sweet sixteens!

more dancin, plus our friends ben and melanie!

poppets

lina

magnus

our friends melanie and ben (of hoarder of awesome fame!) came all the way from michigan to set up with art and vintage goodies for sale. i'll give you one guess where all my money went that day.

josh and i are practically going to have a ben lyon exhibit in our house by the time we hang up all the art we bought (not to mention the painting i already had prior to the flea market!)

i also got some neat stuff from my other friend ben who used to run a label/zine called rock'n'roll purgatory, and a cool cramps magnet made by my friends ap and stella.

josh and i sold a few things, but mostly we blew our money on everyone else's junk.

i took a few videos during the day. magnus and lina (poppets) are my favorite rock'n'roll couple ever -- they're the cutest! we sat around talking about how we know we're getting old but there are all these things we want to do before we settle down and have kids. lina offered to bring me along on tour when she and magnus have a baby so i can be their rock'n'roll nanny and they can still keep touring as a band :D haha!

we had a bonfire after the show, where we taught magnus and lina how to make their first s'mores ever. magnus insisted he was going to start making them "IMMEDIATELY!" when he got back home. he ate two, then remarked that he would probably be waking up with diabetes in the morning.

both bands are some of my favorite house guests ever and i was sad to see everyone go. if the tour stops in your city, i highly recommend you check it out! give them a place to crash and tell them hot trash sent you.

my favorite quotes from the weekend:

"he's up there pooping his pants in the sky now!" -ben
"how'd all these young boys end up in my crawl space? BUMMER!" -scooter, pretending to be an innocent john wayne gacy
"you don't go slapping a hells angel on the ass, ya know?" -josh

record score jamz

2010-07-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

here are some jamz from one of the best (if not THEE best!) record scores josh and i have ever had. from the box of records we got for ten bucks at the house where the lady sells junk out of it 24/7:

(b-side to this gino cut is "come monkey with me" - total 2-sided hit!)

geneva-on-the-lake and our 2-year anniversary (pt. 3!)

2010-07-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

(continued from the previous two posts!)

after the beach, we had dinner at the old firehouse. we shared some appetizers, hoping to save room for a late-nite snack at eddie's (which looks like a joint straight outta the 1950s, as it hasn't changed much from its glory days back then!). we never did make it to eddie's, but we did get to enjoy these deep-fried buffalo shrimp at the old firehouse...they were so hot my stomach hurt but they were worth it! YUM.

once the sun started to go down, we hit up the strip again to take pictures of all the neon signs lit up. i loved seeing old hot rods and classic cars driving around!

we took our ferris wheel ride and it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. while i marveled at the gorgeous sunset we were getting that nite, josh couldn't get over how fast the ferris wheel moved ("this has to be the fastest one i've ever been on!") we learned that it was built in the 40s, but the frame was patented in the 20s. neat! these are some of my favorite photos i've ever taken. so pretty!

it was great walking around at nite seeing the strip all lit up! it was pretty packed for a thursday nite, so i can only imagine how crazy it must get on a weekend.

josh and i were sad to leave the next day, but i know we will be returning soon. thanks again for the suggestion, bob!

we scored quite a few goodies while we were away, including new things for hotel hot trash (life-size plaster clown head bank, buddy holly tin sign, etc) and lots of neat records (at $1 each..GUH! we almost DIED!)

on our drive back to cleveland, we found a lady who sells junk out of her house 24/7 and we stopped to take a look. i got a portable record player (needs repair but it was FREE!), some books, a shot glass with a witch doctor on it, and a box of 45s for ten bucks!!! the box of records included a platter pak 45 tote (which i love, duh) as well as some amazing original records by artists like gino washington!

what a fun time :)

geneva-on-the-lake and our 2-year anniversary (pt. 2!)

2010-07-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

(continued from previous post)

while walking around, josh and i stopped in this little place called the lollipop shoppe. they had an old west saloon set up where you can take those old timey photos. i always wanted to do this! josh was game. that's why i love this boy so :) there were several costume choices, but i opted for bar wench while josh was torn between cowboy and gangster. in the end, he went gangster.

we hit up an arcade and played lots of skeeball and other games.

at one point i hit a jackpot and the tickets just kept comin!

we set our sights on these awesome tin concession stand characters that we eventually won enough tickets to take home!

we found a path (with a hilarious sign) to get down to lake erie.

one of my favorite parts about geneva-on-the-lake was the old ferris wheel! at one time there was an amusement park here, but almost everything is gone now. the carousel still stands (although it is in a "family fun zone" or something that we didn't visit) and the ferris wheel has been moved here on a cliff right above the lake. we waited until later to take a ride.

we headed to geneva state park to hang out on the beach. i'm not normally a beach person (and i can count on one hand how many time you'll ever see me in a bathing suit -- although i do have an impressive collection of vintage bathing suits!), so i took lots of dorky pictures to remember "that one time" i hung out on a beach. ha.

to be continued..again!

geneva-on-the-lake and our 2-year anniversary (pt. 1!)

2010-07-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

josh and i celebrated our 2-year anniversary on june 30th, so we wanted to get outta town for a while and enjoy each others company. our friend bob suggested we check out geneva-on-the-lake, ohio because he knows we like carnival atmospheres and old junk. this turned out to be the perfect spot for us!

a little history: geneva-on-the-lake is one of ohio's oldest summer resort towns and has hosted distinguished guests such as henry ford and john d. rockerfeller. the dance hall (no longer standing) hosted musical acts like jimmy dorsey and cab calloway. a lady we met at one of the antique stores told us about seeing eddie cochran and bobby rydell in some of the long-gone bars. but geneva-on-the-lake still retains much of its old-timey charm and reminded me of a strip straight out of the 1950s, complete with hamburger stands that open onto the sidewalk and hot rods driving up and down the street! i seriously felt like i was in a beach boys song.

josh and i headed out on thursday morning and it was the most perfect day we could hope for.

it was less than an hours drive. as soon as we pulled onto the strip, i knew we were gonna love the place! it was filled with old neons and signs. i felt like we stepped back in time!

we stayed at a place called the anchor motel. the inside of our room was wooden like a boat. i loved the cute anchors everywhere!

first we walked around and scoped the place out. i took lots of pictures of old signs and buildings. the band paintings on the side of the bar were terrible and hilarious.

to be continued!

s-a-t-u-r-d-a-y NITE!

2010-06-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

after a crap week, my saturday more than made up for it.

it started out when i got my first correspondence in my new p.o. box. if you don't know what i'm talking about, check it out here: death comes ripping: a serial killer blog. the feeling i got when i saw my first envelope in that mailbox was PRICELESS!

next josh and i went on a super secret adventure to another city to find a gas station where i was supposed to meet some guy off craigslist. it actually wasn't that secretive at all, but it felt that way because i guess the guy didn't like the idea of some stranger showing up at his house and wanted to meet that way instead. he said he cleaned out houses for a living and was always finding odd stuff. he had a box of old photos that i gladly took off his hands for a small fee. i LOVE old photos! it doesn't matter if i know the people or not. the box was full of treasures!

look at these great wedding portraits. they have to be from the 20s-30s:

(i love how the background of this one looks so HAUNTING!)

here's one of my absolute favorites:

look at grace, all dressed up in this fancy outfit. i wonder what the occasion was?

look at this little troublemaker!

there was a cute little cardboard frame with a class portrait of st. gregory the great from 1953-54. love the saddle shoes!

the back of this photo reads "mrs. and mr. wand and their children (?) and nelly wand. sheffield, ala(bama) feb 2, 1923." 1923, wow! can you imagine?! i love that things like this survived so long.

some more great shots:

and finally, there is this shot, which is the main reason i wanted these photos in the first place:

this ranks right up there with the poor little post-morten guy phoebe gave me. it's sad, but beautiful at the same time.

after our top secret mission, we hit up some estate sales and junk stores. driving past a junk store near our house, i spotted THIS GUY in the window!

my cousins had the same toybox when we were growing up and it brought back happy childhood memories. the best part is that i recently saw a picture of the same toybox in yet another person's house, and i thought to myself, "gee, i wish I had one of those!" and now here it is :)

down in the dumps

2010-06-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

life has been kicking me in the ass lately. i've been having car problems (not once, but twice!). i've been having health problems. i've been having people-are-big-mean-jerk problems. i've been trying to change my karma by doing nice things, but so far i'm getting the shaft. ugh.

next week is mine and josh's two year anniversary. we planned to go on a roadtrip with a bunch of friends to a music festival and just hang out and get outta town for a few days. that is no longer happening, as all the bands we were going to see are playing on sunday and we have to be back for work by monday -- no way thats gonna happen. no fun, and no plans for our anniversary anymore. i also found a message board where i was really excited to be posting and making new friends, as well as learn things from the people already there who had more experience on the website's topic than i did. i got deleted yesterday because the moderator apparently doesn't like me. probably sounds like something really stupid to be complaining about, but now not only can i not go there anymore but i got my feelings hurt and the whole thing was pretty mean-spirited. ugh.

thankfully, my friend jenny over at agonysdecay is working to correct this foul mood i'm in. imagine my delight when a tiny little coffin appeared for me in the mail today!

inside was filled with the most wonderful things: 3 pendants i picked out from her shop when the two of us were arranging a trade,

the cutest little packaging to put them all in,

awesome freebies including creepy gift tags AND almond-scented soap (my absolute FAVORITE scent!),

and the cutest little skeleton bone confetti!

i can not say enough nice things about her etsy shop. i already had the eternal embrace pendant that i won in a contest around halloween. and i can't WAIT to wear the three new ones i got in the mail...aren't the seahorses the best?!

i'm warning you though...if you go to agonydecay's shop looking to pick something out for yourself (or someone special!), you just might have a hard time...there's SO MUCH to choose from! i hope someone picks up the ed gein necklace, as that is another favorite of mine. ; )

i'll leave everyone with a teaser playlist from this past week's hot trash. i thought it was a pretty smokin show, although it was a less-than-smokin listener turnout (judging from online listeners, that is. i have no idea how many people were tuned in locally). if you like rock'n'roll, won't you check it out sometime??

new vintage in the shop and a new blog!

2010-06-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

i hit the motherload of vintage estate sales this past weekend, which means good news for all of you! check the shop for all these goodies! more to come in the following weeks!

(obviously not vintage, ha)

(ok someone gave me this as a joke...now its your turn)

i also started a new blog called death comes ripping. i figured i would contain my creepiness to one place when it comes to my serial killer obsession (most of it, anyway..i can't promise it will be totally gone from here!) anyway, if this is your sort of thing as well, feel free to follow.

if there's no photos, it didn't happen

2010-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

oh, corey feldman.

i don't even know what to say.

although i wish his video projector wouldn't have messed up so i could have seen where he was going and what he was getting at with the clown costume.

at least he looks good with his shirt off :)

serial killer penpals and postmortem photography

2010-06-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

this weekend was all over the place in terms of ups and downs. i could use another weekend just to recover from the weekend!

saturday was filled with awesome. it all started when josh and i finally stopped messing around and went down to the post office together to apply for a p.o. box. i have been saying for years that i wanted to write to serial killers...not because i condone gruesome murders (although there ARE a few people i could think of....ok ok just kidding) but because y'all know about most of my morbid fascinations by now. of course this has the potential to be risky business, but at least another address makes me feel a bit more at ease. if i actually acquire any penpals, i'm toying with the idea of starting a new blog for that. i don't want to freak out people who follow this blog and think i'm a total creep for getting excited when i find a letter in my mailbox...

next, my pal mags stopped over so he and his wife could meet josh for the first time! they also brought me some of the best new york pizza there is! HA!

i was only joking when i told mags to bring some on his visit but he insisted. what an awesome friend! the hot trash with jeff as my special guest will finally take place TOMORROW so be sure to tune in for cool records, silly stories and total madness!

next josh and i went junking with our friend greg. we didn't have much luck out at stores, but i DID find this little guy! anyone know if he is from something or has a name? he has no tags or markings of any kind.

the day would have been a big bust if it weren't for our amazing friends!greg brought josh and i some old satanic/occult/voodoo books. they have really neat illustrations. josh plans to learn how to become invisible.

then my girlfriend phoebe called me over to go through stuff she was cleaning out of her house. it felt like christmas! she gave me such wonderful stuff like picture frames, books, and best of all, OLD PHOTOS! don't ask me why but i have an obsession with other people's photos, especially if they are old. i have a whole shelf at hotel hot trash full of photos i found when i worked at the thrift store.

not only were there neat things like fancy facial hair and vintage cars, but I DO BELIEVE I HAVE NOW ACQUIRED MY FIRST POST MORTEM PHOTO! yes dear readers, yet another creepy obsession of mine. this is something i wanted to start collecting, but i either haven't had the luck to come across unidentified ones or don't have the money to start buying real, honest-to-goodness collections. for those that aren't familiar...post mortems (pms for short) are the practice of taking a photograph of a recently deceased person for the purpose of honoring and remembering them. this was a popular practice up until the 20th century, although it is now often thought of as morbid and strange. if you would like to read up about post mortem photography, here is a good starting point.

i asked the author of a popular PM site for an opinion on whether this is one or not, and he said he believes that it is. what do you think? i present to you: the neatest thing i have gotten in a long time! thanks, phoebe!!

(look at how weird the eyes look..and that one hand that isn't really clutching anything...and how stiff the body looks...)

to make matters even MORE interesting, phoebe believes that this may be a photo she had in her own collection and might be someone from her family! not only does it have her family's city of origin stamped on the back, but she thinks she recognizes the couch the baby is posed on as the one she now owns!! how creepy cool is that?!

the truth is we may never know for sure if this is a pm (unless it IS someone from phoebe's family and she is able to find anything in her family history), but in a way the speculation is an interesting facet all its own.

sunday was mostly a bummer. my family had a surprise party for my grandma's 80th birthday. while it was fun to hang with the family (my family RULES!) there was an akward/scary moment when one of the guests actually had a heartattack in the middle of the party! he had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. i haven't heard anything today but i hope he is ok!! later on josh and i went to a show to see my buddy NOBUNNY but the crowd was lame and rowdy and i got so annoyed i left without even watching the spits play. nobunny was great, as usual. if i ever get my computer fixed, hopefully i will have some nobunny videos to post up in the future.

heres hoping the week only goes up from here!